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Tiger Cubs Growing Up Fast At Pittsburgh Zoo

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – It’s been just over six months since the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium celebrated the birth of three rare tiger cubs.

They’re growing up fast and are now ready to meet visitors.

They look like soft cuddly kittens, but the newest members of the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium are pretty strong.

“They’re a whole lot of fun. At this stage, they are about 60 or 70 pounds, so they pack quite a wallop and when they play with mom, they just about knock her over,” Ken Kaemmerer of the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium said.

The cubs were born on Sept. 12. The litter of three is made up of two girls and a boy. The rough and tumble boy is the only one with a name so far.

“He was named for Max Talbot of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The other two haven’t gotten names yet and we are looking for names,” Kaemmerer said.

People love to watch the big cats and it’s not just kids who come to see the tigers.

“I come as often as I can. Tigers are my favorite big cat, and to have the cubs here is just great,” Michelle Rheam said.

The sign says it’s a Siberian Tiger, but it’s known by the name of Amur Tiger. Of course, that’s a region in eastern Russia where these big cats are originally from.

The babies were offered meat after about two months after birth. Now, they polish off about 14 pounds of raw meat a day. That’s enough to give them lots of energy to use on mom.

“They will stay with mom until about two years of age and then we will separate them out as a trio. Dad we have back here, but he cannot go out with them,” Kaemmerer said.

There are only about 300 Amur Tigers left in the wild and about half that many are in captivity.

Fortunately, we get to watch three of them grow up right before our eyes.